


Russian Airport Adventures

by Juno_Sweater



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Gen, Set in 1989, but I am saying that if they did it was like this, if you see any grammatical errors no you didnt, im not saying Hilbert and minkowski net before the Hephaestus mission, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juno_Sweater/pseuds/Juno_Sweater
Summary: Dmitri Volodin was many things.A scientist. A doctor. A young man. A Russian immigrant. A newly-made American. A Goddard Futuristics employee. A researcher. He was all of those things.The father of the small girl clinging to his side was not one of those.
Relationships: Alexander Hilbert & Renèe Minkowski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Russian Airport Adventures

**Author's Note:**

> First fic on AO3! I really should have spent my time doing my AP Gov homework or my second drawing for the TMA Big Bang, but responsibility has never come naturally to me. Idea taken from stuff G_J_Smith (other ao3 user) said in the wolf 359 discord

Dmitri Volodin was many things.

A scientist. A doctor. A young man. A Russian immigrant. A newly-made American. A Goddard Futuristics employee. A researcher. He was all of those things.

The father of the small girl clinging to his side was not one of those.

It had been a month-long process to get him and his research materials into the states without tipping off the KGB. They wouldn’t have liked to know that he was planning to leave and never return. So he’d had to be sneaky about it. Goddard, for all the promises they’d made to him, had not been all that helpful in actually getting him out of Soviet Union. It had taken work, but he was finally in America. For now. It wasn’t like he had any plans of going back (not now that he had already left), but there was always the danger of someone realizing he Didn’t Belong Here. There was the matter of him being Russian, but there was also the matter of him not being fully acquainted with the fake name and information on the passport Goddard had gotten for him (one of their few contributions to the journey over). He already felt like he would get interrogated if he couldn’t recite the 50 (?) States on command, so he had already been tense before this girl had come upon him.

Dmitri could not see much of the girl clinging to his side beyond the long brown braid covering her scalp. He wiggled, but wasn’t able to escape her grip until she herself let go. She took a step or two back before lifting up her head. Her eyes widened.

“Kim jesteś? Nie jesteś moim ojcem!”

Hmmm. Well that was no good. Dmitri has no idea what she just said. Whatever language she had spoken in (Polish? maybe), it was not one he was fluent in. He cracked a nervous smile, trying to make the girl less afraid and less likely to get into trouble.

“H-hello there, girl,” Dmitri stuttered out in a thick Russian accent. It didn’t help. The girl took another step back. Her eyes watered. Dmitri’s heart seized. He had only been in the United States for 2 hours and he already wanted to go back to Russia.

Okay, now what? How are you supposed to act around children again? Dmitri couldn’t remember how you were supposed to talk to children; it had been too long. The last time he had spoken to a child was when he was one, and that had been years ago. Now, he was stuck here, trying to comfort a girl he couldn’t speak to. He stuck his arms out in front of him to show he was safe to be around and took another step forward. The girl took another step back. God dammit. He muttered a curse to himself in Russian.

“W-what did you say?” The girl breathed, enunciated each syllable like she was trying to remember how each word felt in her mouth.

Dmitri lifted his head. Did she just speak to him in Russian? He opened his mouth to speak.

“Hello there, young child.” There were probably a thousand questions he could ask her that would make this interaction end sooner, but he couldn’t think of any of them. “What’s your name?” He finally asked.

“My name is Renée,” she, Renée, said. Each syllable was practiced, like she learned the words in a classroom. She probably wasn’t all that fluent in the language, but she seemed to know enough for a conversation to work. She still seemed scared, though. Dmitri nodded.

“My name is-.” Shit. What was his name again? The name on his passport. It’s not like this girl was definitely going to tattle on him if his name didn’t match the one on his passport, but it was a possibility. Anything could get him kicked out of the airport, out of the country. Dmitri knew he didn’t belong here, and he felt like everyone else would if they looked at him for too long. “Where is your family?” He finally asked.

“I-I don’t know.” Her voices sounded thick and her eyes watered a bit. Oh no no no no no. Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry. That—that would not be good. It would draw more attention to him, and that was the last thing he wanted.

“Sh-shhhh, it’ll, uh, it’ll be fine. Uh, do you… know where you saw them last?” Try as he may, Dmitri didn’t sound all that comforting. Still, the girl didn’t start crying, so it had to count for something.

She shook her head. That was no good. He would, unfortunately, have to help her look for her parents. How exactly was he supposed to go about that? Dmitri Volodin, at 167 cm, was not a tall man, and had trouble seeing over people’s heads in large crowds. That said, the crowd wasn’t going to be a problem. Even though it was summertime, there weren’t very many people coming or going on a Wednesday afternoon.

Dmitri peered around the empty space. There were little pockets of people spread out around the airport. A woman with a headscarf trying to quiet her two young children. A horde of people, from an old stoop-backed grandfather to the smallest child, arguing over a pamphlet quickly switching hands in the group. The various airport employees and their watchful eyes, scanning the grounds for possible felons. Uh oh. Dmitri didn’t look at those ones for too long. In the opposite direction from those people was two middle aged people —a couple, presumably— scanning the crowd tensely, like they were looking for a lost child.

Wait. Hold on a second. ‘Like they were looking for a lost child?’ That could be this girl!

“Are those your parents?” Dmitri poked the girl’s shoulder and pointed in the couple’s direction. She squinted for a moment, and then her face brightened. Dmitri let out a sign he didn’t know he’d been holding until he finally let it go. She ran away from him and towards her parents, tripping over her feet as she ran but still staying upright.

“Mama! Tato!” She yelled. The couple didn’t seem to notice her. “Andreí Minkowski!” The girl yelled, trying again to get her parent’s attention. The couple turned their heads, looking relieved when they met the eyes of their child. Wait a moment. Andreí Minkowski? The famous astrophysicist Andreí Minkowski? Oh shit. Dmitri stared. The Andreí Minkowski. That made the girl he’d been speaking to Andreí Minkowski’s daughter. Damn. That was something. The Minkowski’s hugged their daughter once she reached them.

As he was watching them, Dmitri realized he’d been standing there, doing nothing, for too long. Had he forgotten who he was? Had he forgotten how he’d gotten here? One false step, one wrong move, and he could get deported back to Russia. Lord knew what the KGB would do to him if they saw him again. He turned away from the newly-reunited family, dodging behind a nearby wall.

The whole interaction had not actually been that bad. Sure, it had been a little nerve-racking, but that was just America. Everything was stressful here. 

Over by her parents, Renée Minkowski was safe in their arms. After recounting how they had been separated from each other, Renée told them of the man she had spoken to. A Russian man. He had helped her find her parents. When her parents asked her where he was, she pointed back the way she came. But he wasn’t there. Where had he gone?

**Author's Note:**

> First fic on AO3! I really should have spent my time doing my AP Gov homework or my second drawing for the TMA Big Bang, but responsibility has never come naturally to me. Idea taken from stuff G_J_Smith (other ao3 user) said in the wolf 359 discord


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